Book 1 The wolf and the magic

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Chapter 7: Fear shall be known

I awoke at 6:30 am to get ready for the journey into the mountains. I looked over my gear and decided to only take my M-3 pistol and my Claymore. Celestia ordered that my armor be brought here to the castle and it arrived this morning.

I was putting on the part of my armor as I heard a knock at the door. "It is unlocked, you may enter. "As the door opened, I looked over to see who was entering.  "Chrysalis, what do you need?" I stood up and tightened my sword onto my back. "I did not expect to be able to talk to you" I motioned her to take a seat, so we could talk.

"I do not need anything; I am here to give my assistance. I am willing to give you a few Changelings to help you on your quest." She had a serious look in her eyes.

"Okay, I will gladly accept this help. Any help is kindly appreciated." I sat up and walked towards the door to leave. But before I could leave Chrysalis called my name.

"Dunmore, I do hope you find who you are looking for. But I fear you might not like what you find there." Before I could respond and question what she meant, she was gone.

"I wonder what she meant by that?" I pondered it for a moment. "Oh well, best not to worry about it to much." I walked out of the room and greeted the guards who stood on guard outside of it. I walked to the gardens and took at seat under a tree.

I meditated there and focused on the known fears of the world. I sat cross-legged and had my eyes closed, I closed out the world and focused on only a certain fear, death.  I heard the sound of death and the sound of the dying. As terrifying as it may be, I have heard it enough in my life. I have seen many people die, unable to do anything for them as they died.

I ceased my meditation as I felt someone getting closer; I got up to see who it was.

"Twilight, good morning, how are you?" I walked over to the path where she was at.

"Good morning to you to Dunmore, I am fine. What about you?" She asked in that cheerful voice that she normally had.  I never understood how someone could be this cheerful almost all the time.

"I am fine, I was just meditating. Focusing my powers, making sure my control never dulls."  We walked out of the gardens and back in side. A couple hours have past when I was meditating.

I and Twilight went into the dinning hall where Princess Celestia was at. She had a huge cup of coffee and a normal breakfast. "Not much of a morning pony Princess?" I let out a small laugh. I took a seat and took out my Kuwashii visor and started tuning it with my Omni-tool.

Celestia let out a small laugh at my little joke. "Funny, remind me to make you a jester if you ever commit a crime" She launched a counter-joke.

I let out a laugh. "Indeed, that would be amusing to see me as a jester. But then what would I use my powers for? Special effects?" we shared a laugh at the idea of me dancing around doing funny things.

By this time Twilight finally took a seat near Princess Celestia. She also had a large cup of coffee. "I guess student and teacher do share some similarities." I grinned and got up. I put my visor on and made sure my hood and cloak was secure. The hood and cloak were black and had a line of dark red on the edge running the entire item. I left the room to go check on the solders who I would be bringing along on this mission.

I was walking towards the exit of the castle to head to the guard training grounds, but before I was able to leave, I was stopped by a certain orange filly.  "Hello Scootaloo, what do you need?" I stopped and took a seat on a fence.

"I just wanted to say hi and talk about the mission we are going on." Scootaloo sat on the ground next to me.

"I decided to not let you come along on this mission, it's too dangerous. Anyways, Rainbow dash and the others are here with you." I hopped that she would understand why it might be dangerous.

She let out a sigh and she became saddened. "What if we find my dad? I want to be there when you do."

I got up and crouched so I was eye level with her. "It is too dangerous, you will be safer here. If we find him, we will come back here as quick as possible." I gave her a reassuring smile. "But, you must be ready for the worst case scenario."

I could hear her start to cry at the thought of her father being dead. "Scootaloo, I know your pain, I don't know who my father was. I may never know, but I had my uncle. He was not my biological uncle but he was a close as an uncle as it was going to get. He was a friend of my fathers, he raised me. But for you, if your father is gone, remember that you always have your friends. I'm sure you could get Rainbow Dash to take you in if...you know." This seemed to have cheered her up, not a lot, but enough to stop her crying.

"Thanks Dunmore, I'll go find the others." Scootaloo ran off to find the others and I continued on my way to the training grounds.

When I got there, I saw multiple groups of guards training and checking their equipment. A guard pony came up to me and introduced himself. He was an earth pony, brown coat and black mane; his eyes were a dark blue. "Sergeant Sandbags reporting sir" He gave a quick salute, which I returned.

"Hello sergeant, are the troops ready?" I got right to business. "I expect the trip to only take a day if we are on time." The Sergeant lead me over to an open field were the 10 guards I saw yesterday were training. He called them to attention and let me speak.

"Alright, today, we have a mission. We will complete this mission as best as we can.

I don't know how many of us will make it back. If you wish to still come on this mission, come forward one step." For a moment I thought they all gave up, but they all stepped forward.

"Good, now gather your gear! We move out in an hour!" They were dismissed and I went back to the castle.

I entered the bunker throne room, which was inside of the mountain that the castle was built into, to talk to everyone before we left. The others were already in the middle of talking and gave a short greeting before going to Celestia.

I gave a quick salute. "We are ready to move out and complete our mission"

Celestia gave a nod. "Good, I expect you and the guards to come back in one piece."  I gave a cocky smile.

"That's the plan." I cracked my knuckles and my neck.

"I am letting Twilight come along on your mission." This shocked me and I became serious.

"No, she will not." My tone was very serious. Celestia was taken back by my response.

"May I ask why she is not allowed to join you?" Her tone had a slight feel of anger.

"It is too dangerous and I will not let anyone risk their life if they don't need to." As I said this, Twilight stepped next to me.

"Dunmore, I volunteered to join. Don't worry; I can handle myself in a fight and/or hazardous conditions." I thought it over for a moment.

I cursed under my breath. "Fine, you can come. But be careful, we don't know what we will encounter up in those mountains." Before we took leave, Celestia gave me some more information.

"Dunmore, I received a letter from the Griffon leader telling us that Griffon scout teams have been disappearing in the area of mountains you are going to. If you could find them, it would be much appreciated." I gave a quick salute and we left for the mountains.

It was about 11:30am when we left. It took us the whole day to get to the base of the mountains.  We took a train to get to a town closest to the mountains and then walked the rest of the way. We set up camp at the edge of the forest and stayed there. Sharp Wing took first watch and I took second.

I sat outside the camp; I looked up at the mountains. I zoned out and when someone touched my shoulder to get my attention. I pulled out my pistol and spun around to point it at the unknown target. It was Twilight. "Don't sneak up on me like that, bad idea." I sat back down. "What do you need?"  I stared back at the mountains.

"Are you okay? You have been staring at those mountains forever. Are you thinking about what might happen?"   Twilight had genuine concern in her voice.

"Chrysalis told me I might not like what I find. When I went to question what she meant, she vanished." I stood up and pulled out my binoculars to take a quick look around. I saw the few Changelings, which Chrysalis gave us, fly about to keep an eye out for any hostiles or any unknowns.

I stood up and walked into the center of our camp site. The grass in the area was tall enough to keep us hidden and if need be, we could quickly retreat into the tree. I sat in front of the fire and took out the map to look it over.

Twilight sat next to me. "What do you think she meant? What could we find?"

I put the map away and walked over to my tent, before entering I turned to face Twilight.

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this. Let's just be careful" I went into my tent and laid down on my bedroll. Sleep came fast, but the dreams never came. It was a quiet night, not a sound in my mind, just silence.

I awoke early, before anyone else got up. I cleaned out the camp fire and packed up my tent. The others started to awake and pack their own things. "Leave the tents here; we won't need them on the way up. They would only slow us down." They did as I ordered and we hid our packed up tents among the trees.

"Let's get a move on; we should get there by mid-day if we go at a steady pace" The few Changelings that we had with us waited for us, they don't sleep apparently. "Did you find anything last night?"

The closest Changeling turned to me with an answer, its voice was scratchy and bug-like. "We found nothing. Path to the mountain is clear."

"Good job, let's go then." I signaled the soldiers to fallow me. Twilight stayed behind me as we made our way up the path through the mountains. The path got smaller, so we entered a line formation. I started to notice blood and cut in the stone.

"Hold. Look at the walls; this seems to be the right path. Stay on guard, don't get stupid." The farther we went, the more blood we saw. The path opened up into a small area with a cave.

The cave entrance was damaged. Blood, weapons and bits of armor were scattered about.

"Watch your corners, check the area. Be careful." We looked around for anything of importance.

One of the soldiers called me over to the left side of the cave entrance.   "Sir! Take a look at this, its griffon armor." The armor was indeed griffon, but the name on the inside of the helmet gave it away. "It's a bit worn, but I think I can make out a name on it" I scanned it over with my Omni-tool. "Here we go; the helmet belongs to one of the griffon scouts. One by the name of Gilda, Twilight isn't that the griffon who came to Ponyville once and was really mean and rude?" I handed the helmet to Twilight.

"Yes, that is her. I did not expect to meet her again, especially in this way. If this is her helmet, then she's in trouble. Even though she was a bit rude and mean, we are going to help her and any others that are here." Twilight gave the helmet back to me and I just tossed it over my shoulder.

"Okay then, let's get into this cave then. We got to find out what the hell is going on here." We entered the cave and I used my sword as a light source after pooling magic into its blade.

It was your typical and normal cave, and then we entered a cavern. I saw a torch line and used some fire magic to light it. The torches light up along the wall and through the middle.

There were cages and at the far end of the medium sized cavern was a large device.

"What in the hell are we looking at? It looks to be some sort of holding area and...I have no clue what that device at the far end is." The device was a black obelisk with spikes protruding from it at random areas. There was also a glowing interface on it with a few of the spike connected to cages around it.

"Let's get down there and check those cages. See who we can save." We made our way down to the main floor and check the cages. I got close to one and saw what looked to be a Pegasus on the ground, shaking. "Hey, can you hear me? Hello? We are here to help?" I was about to open the door, but the Pegasus jumped at the cage and I saw its face in full light. Its eyes had wires and other mechanical parts over its face. I fell back with a short scream. Twilight came running over to see what was wrong.

"Dunmore! What's wrong? Is everything all- What is that?!" She looked at the Pegasus in the cage and began to feel sick.

I got up and pulled out my pistol. "It....is a husk. Not of Reaper tech, possibly Cerberus tech...That means...shit." I looked up and saw the Lunar Republic symbol on the ceiling.

"They gave them this much tech! I will end these bastards before they cause anymore harm to anyone else." I aimed my pistol at the Pegasus and shot it in the head, killing it instantly. I went into the cage a grabbed the tags off of him, I also found a note.

"Twilight, I got a note here. Let me read it so I can figure out who this guy was with." I started to read the note and also check the tags. The tags were worn and useless, but I kept them.

The note read 'I am sorry, I messed up and now my team is dead. To anyone who finds this note, please be kind enough to help my daughter. Her name is Scootaloo, please keep her safe. If you ever meet Sharp Wing, just tell him not to worry. He did what he had to do to save his family..' the name at the bottom was covered in dried blood and worn.

"Twilight...is Sharp Wing still here?" I stood up and looked over to Twilight.

"Yes, he is over there with the other soldiers. Why? What's going on?" I ignored Twilight questions and made my way to Sharp wing.

I walked towards Sharp Wing.  I handed him the note and he just sat down. "I never wanted this to happen; I had to save my family. But, they killed them anyways. So please, kill me so I may join them. Please, just end my suffering." Tears poured from his eyes and he wept.

"As you wish, join your family now Sharp Wing." I went behind him and put my sword through the back of his neck; killing him instantly. "Farewell soldier, I hope you can be happy in the after life."

We searched multiple cages and only found dead ponies and a few griffons. We managed to find 2 griffons and the one griffon named Gilda.

We patched up the cuts and wounds they had and a few soldiers led them to the entrance of the cave. I went to the obelisk and touched the thing that looked like a control panel. As I touched it, the obelisk opened to reveal a steam of energy.  A shield of energy surrounded me and the obelisk.  Twilight noticed the shield and began to try and crack it with magic.

"Twilight, magic will not break this shield. I will have to interrupt the energy flow. Normally, there is a device to divert the power, but we don't have one. I will have to use my powers to overload it; I don't know what this might do. So I want you to leave with the others." Twilight could not believe what I had just said.

"No! Dunmore, there has to be another way!" Wind started swirling around the shield and energy started to lash out.

I gave her a small smile. "Don't worry; I don't think this will kill me." I turned to the device and reached both hands into the power steam and began using my powers to overload the systems. I felt the power course through me and spark off of me into the shield.

Twilight stayed where she was. "Dunmore! There has to be something else you can do to stop it!"

I looked over my shoulder and gave Twilight another small smile. "Nope, this is the only way!" the wind started to pick up speed around the shield and became very loud. "If there was another way, it wouldn't be as exciting as this!" I gave a laugh. "So get going Twilight, I got this handled. For now" I muttered the last part and looked back at the device.

Bolts of energy cracked off and hit my armor, breaking it in places. I felt my arms go numb and then my torso. I was loosening feeling in my body, but stood there, diverting power and trying to overload the device.

I looked back over to see that Twilight had left. "This has been fun!" I gave a short laugh. "I will miss living in Equestria.....Oh well....Alls well that ends well." The steam of energy began to glow brighter and brighter. The shield dissipated and the device gave off a loud continuous roar as the device began to overload.

My body felt weightless, I gave off another smile. "This is how it ends....Not in glorious combat or old age. Damn, I wonder what afterlife is like here." The white light coming form the device expanded into the cavern and a loud explosion fallowed.

The others were already half-way down the path when the mountain exploded in a white light. The soldiers just stopped and stared, Twilight ran back towards the cave.

When she got there, it was gone. Only a huge crater, she went into the crater, hoping to find me. She searched for hours, the soldiers came to help out and the almost lost hope when the searched the center of the crater. But, on of the griffons found my hand poking out of the dirt on the far side of the crater.

"I found him!" the others rushed over and began to unbury my body. It was damaged, my armor was shattered and my face was burnt. My sword was some how still intact along with my pistol. They got me above ground; I was unconscious and severely injured.

It was up to the soldiers, Twilight and that griffon named Gilda to get my body out of there and get back to Canterlot.

--- (Third-person) ---

They found a town nearby and luckily there was a small hospital there. They let the doctors there handle the major injuries on Dunmore's body and stabilize him till Celestia gets there.

They stayed at the hotel across from the hospital and all they could think about is what they found up there. And Twilight could only think about the worse possible outcomes for Dunmore's Condition.  They decided to get some rest and wait for any news. But Twilight could not sleep at all.

------Dunmore's room (hospital) -----

The machines around Dunmore's bed beeped as they kept track of his heart and other things that needed to be watched. His eyes stirred behind his eyelids, he was not having a dream, but a vist within his mind.

----Dunmore's mind (first-person) ---

I walked through halls of the unknown structure in search of an idea of where I was. I walked into a large area, a void surrounded it. I saw a white glowing figure sitting on a bench, it called me over. "Who are you?" I sat down.

"Who I am will be explained in due time. But I can assure you, we are related, but I can not tell you how. As I have said before, all will be explained in time. But you must find a Time And Relative Dimension In Space. You can start there, find the Doctor. Oh, if you are wondering what his real name is, I can not tell you." The glow began to dim and I could see who I was talking to, well, not any good details. But, I could make out that it was a man. That's all I could determine, not much else.

"Wait...A what? The Doctor? I don't know where he is, but if I run across him again, I'll do whatever needs to be done." I sat up and looked around at the void, the colors of it where changing. From blue to red and then to orange, like a day would be going by.  "What is going on with this void?" the man laughed.

"Dose it matter, I'm surprised you were not at all freaked out by talking ponies. How did you manage that?   The first time I came here, I was asking so many questions." I just stared at the man as he rambled.

"Well, dealing with different types of aliens sort of helps with it." I looked back at the void and heard voices, I could not make out what they said, but I heard them. "Wait, is this hell or heaven? Or that place were it's decided if you go to hell or heaven? If so, that would suck." I looked at the void as it became white and very bright. The ground began to disappear around me. "What's going on here?" I turned to the man on the bench. He was waving goodbye and the bench floated away.

"You have spent many days here, you need to go back. I have seen your future, it is fantastic. Go, you have friends waiting for you." Before I could question his words, the world vanished and was replaced with a bright white light.

I felt a tingling, then a feeling of electricity. I was being zapped by something, I shut my eyes tight. I felt my body being propelled forward, faster and faster till nothing but air and cold light

----- (Hospital room) -----

I shot up from the bed with a scream of pain and started coughing a fit. I tried to look around my vision was blurred and I could only see shapes and different hues of red. I also tried to move, but I was stopped by something, I swung my limp arm to my left. I tried to hit something, but I only succeeded in pulling my self out of the bed.

I hit the floor with a thud, it was cold and hard. My vision began to come back, still blurry. My hearing also came back and I could hear voices, I heard the movement of armor and hooves on the cold floor.

I was hoisted up on to the bed with magic, it was a different magic. Not a unicorns...An alicorn's magic. My throat burned as I tried to speak, my voice was a wheeze.

"Do not worry Dunmore, you are safe. Relax; you will only reopen your wounds." I heard Celestia's voice.

"He should be able to talk in a few hours, if not, just rest and liquids will help." A nurse spoke to Celestia. I could not see, but I could now hear.

"What about his sight?" Twilight, she was safe. That is reassuring.

"That should come back at some point today, his eyes were not too damaged when you brought him in." the nurse flipped through some paper. "Normally we charge for such treatment, but seeing who this is for. I think we owe a lot of favors." The nurse left the room along with the tow guards. Only Celestia and Twilight were left.

"He will be fine Twilight, don't worry about a thing." Celestia left after giving the tiny pep-talk.  Celestia and the others left the room and left Twilight alone.

"I don't know if you can hear me Dunmore. It's been a about a week and a half. Most of your armor was heavily damaged; we kept what didn't turn to dust when we picked you out of the crater."  I could hear tears hit the floor along with the soft beep of the machines. "I was scared...That you had....Died.....Sorry, knowing you, you wouldn't die to a simple explosion, that's something you would have said."  I heard her let out a sigh. "Anyway, get some rest. They say you should be up and about by tomorrow afternoon. That's good; we will let you go through what parts of armor you want to keep. Right know you are only wearing the under-armor pants. That's what you called them, right? Oh well, get some rest, see you tomorrow." She then left the room.

I laid back down, setting my head on the pillow and closing my eyes. They next day will come, and bad news will come to Scootaloo. She will not enjoy the news that I will bring.

Wait, I was out for a week and a half......well damn. Oh well, another day, another adventure.

I fell asleep and waited for the next day, I will bring this Lunar Republic down, no matter what.